Washburn Law students tour Brown v. Board

TOPEKA (KSNT) – New law students at Washburn University took their class away from campus to a landmark historic site Tuesday afternoon.

About a hundred students spent the afternoon at the Brown v. Board of Education National Park as part of their law school orientation.

Barry Grissom, the U.S. attorney for the district of Kansas spoke to the students as part of a program that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that protects Americans from discrimination based on race.

Before his talk, Grissom shared his thoughts on the civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

“I think the events at Ferguson, while they don’t speak directly to us, there are lots of themes tragically brought to the surface and one of those themes is the issue of trust between law enforcement and communities of color; I think every community needs to be aware of that and needs to put efforts towards working to building that trust between the community and law enforcement.”

After Grissom’s talk, students toured the park site which tells the story of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in public schools.